Why So Sirius?
by fand0m-phaser
Summary: The new girl, the muggle-born, Riley Janes, steps into the muggle world with her new found friend, Lily Evans. Riley Janes fancies Sirius Black, and he feels the same. How will their time at Hogwarts unfold over the course of each year? (Rated T just to be safe - for now-)
1. The Departure

**The Departure**

The world can be a scary place, but Riley Janes was more ready than she'd ever been in her life. Accompanied by Minerva McGonagall, a middle-aged witch with shiny brown hair that was tied up in a tight bun on the top of her head, escorted Riley through the bustling train platform to someplace, which she called "Platform 9 3/4" she said in her shrill, high voice.

"Now Riley, once we get to the platform, you are going to need to run through a wall," she said simply.

"Excuse me, but did you say a wall?" squeaked Riley. Minerva laughed breathlessly. She made a mental note to keep an eye on that one. She seemed to know that she'd be a trouble maker. As Riley was thinking about everything that had happened in the past few days, her head spun around. On August 21st, a lady with a pointy black hat and odd clothing came to her house on her boring little street with a piece of parchment, saying she had accepted to some wizarding school? Despite her confusion in the moment, Riley snatched the paper and silently thanked the world for her luck. Her parents were rarely ever around for anyway, always at some pub getting wasted. At the age of 11, she had to quickly grow up to the lack of parenting skills and simply parenting in general. She was thankful to finally be leaving the hell hole that was called home. Where she was going, she wasn't sure, but anywhere but there had to be better than there. She started to come to her senses once she heard Miss. McGonagall calling her name. She snapped out of her daze and heard the lady telling her to brace herself and run. She obediently ran forwards while closing her eyes, realizing how ridiculous she must look. She felt like nothingness for a split second and then emerged on the other side. Her eyes widened at the sight of all of the people, noises, and animals around her. Riley was completely dumbfounded at the sight before her eyes. Wizards, witches, and children ran around, bustling to get their kids on a large train with some crest on it that read "Hogwarts".

"Brilliant," said Riley as she marveled at everything around her.

"Lily! Stop! Wait for me! Argh!" screamed a young girl with teeth that resembled a horse. Riley's eyes followed the young girl to people who seemed like her parents. She held her gaze until she stumbled forward and fell on her hands and knees. Not knowing what hit her, she looked around and saw a young girl, about the same age as her with bright red hair and green eyes peering down at her, repeatedly saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, are you alright?!"

"Yes, yeah, I'm fine, thank you," said Riley as the girl pulled her up by the hand.

"I'm really sorry about that. My name is Lily. And you are?"

"Riley. Riley Janes," she replied.

"Hello Riley Janes, it's a pleasure.". She held out her hand for Riley to shake it. "Is this your first year at Hogwarts too?" asked Lily.

"So that's the place we're going to, is it?" questioned Riley.

"Ohhhh, are you from a muggle family too!?" asked Lily in an excited voice.

"Uhh... what are muggles?" she asked in a puzzled tone.

"Right, sorry, I should have probably explained that first. Muggles are non-magic folk, like our parents! We're what you call muggle-borns, we don't have any magical blood in us, but certain children of Muggle families have wizards or witches for kids!"

Riley was silently thinking to herself that this girl was a major chatterbox. After a few minutes of listening to Lily's speech on muggles, she finally focused herself back to the conversation and realized that Lily was asking her if she wanted to sit with her on the train. At this point, Riley had lost sight of Miss. McGonagall long ago, so she decided she would pull her trunk along with her to where she was going to board. Lily showed her to the area where all of the luggage was being put and she quietly noted that the train car seemed to never end, but this was duly noted since almost everything there didn't make sense. Since Riley was quite the adventurous soul herself, she was quite excited by everything around her; new people, new places, new everything, really. Lily tugged her hand, telling her to follow her, so she obeyed. Once her foot hit the train car steps, her heart skipped a beat and she let out a small laugh. Lily turned around with a puzzled look on her face.

"Why are you laughing?"

Riley laughed again.

"I have no idea, I just feel like I actually am actually going somewhere that I'll like. For the first time in a really long time, I kind of feel okay,"

"Well yes, I've been told by a few other people here that it can do that to you sometimes,"

Riley had a huge grin spread across her face as they walked farther into the train. She was taking in all of the boxes of the train car, all of the people and animals scurrying around their owner's feet or heads.

"So this is your first year too right?" said Riley, trying to make conversation as she looked around and tried to keep up with Lily.

"Oh yes, I really don't know anyone but I'm sure we'll make friends, I've already found one haven't I?" She said with a smile. It made Riley grin to know that she was considered a friend to the red-headed girl she met barely 3 minutes ago. They walked a bit longer down a car hallway that never seemed to end until they found an empty box. Riley put her small bag on a shelf along with Lily's and they both sat down. Just after 30 seconds of quiet peace, two rowdy boys stumbled into the box, all talking amongst themselves until one of the boys turned his head towards Lily with a grin on his face, but it went suddenly slack when his eyes fell upon her. The box was totally silenced until Riley coughed as if to remind the boy that they were still on planet earth.

"Uuhhhh... Ummm..." he stuttered as he stared at Lily.

"Uh, hi..?" said Riley as she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Right, yes, um, hey..." he managed to get out.

"James, quit staring, you look like a git," said a boy behind James with soft, black, curly, shoulder-length hair that was well kept. He had beautiful grey eyes that had a hint of rebellion in them and a charming face with fair features. Riley looked at him and thought out loud.

"Wow.."

"Beg your pardon?" said the boy with the shiny black hair. Once Riley realized what she said, she immediately turned bright red, embarrassed at the fact that she had just told him exactly what she was thinking. Lily giggled at Riley and finally introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Lily, Lily Evans, and this is..." she trailed off, waiting for Riley to introduce herself.

"Uh, hey... Janes... my name's Riley Janes." She said, still holding her gaze on the boy with the long black hair.

He smiled at the ground for a second, lifted his head and then spoke.

"Well hello Lily Evans and Riley Janes," he said with a smirk as he said Riley's name and glanced at her, "it's a pleasure".

**Thank you guys so much for reading, I'm pretty new to fanfictions so I hope the first chapter is sufficiently well done! **

**New Chapter: The Train**


	2. The Train

**The second chapter of Why So Sirius? How'd you guys like the first chapter? Hope you guys liked it! Here's the second one for ya.**

**I do not own Harry Potter in any way shape or form!**

The trio sat down in the empty seats that were left in the box. The kid named James clumsy sat down next to Lily and the boy with the long black hair gracefully took a seat next to Riley. As he did so, she blushed furiously and stared intently at her shoes.

"So, what are your names, and what in the blazes just happened? Couldn't you have asked to come in or something?" demanded Lily, wanting to get straight to the point, but the three boys seemed to be distracted with a trolley that held items that Riley was unfamiliar with.

"The sweets trolley! Sirius, get out your galleons, the carts here!" cried James, running after the small, stout lady with an apron on. About two minutes passed and the two boys came back holding candy and what she presumed to be chocolate.

"I've heard about this trolley for so long from my parents! Oooh, a chocolate frog! I've collected the cards inside." The one who's name was James opened up the small flat box and a brown colored frog jumped out onto Lily's lap and she shrieked, then laughed. James scooped up the frog into his hands and they both blushed at contact.

"What are those? They're not alive, are they?" Riley asked in confusion and amazement.

"They're called chocolate frogs, they're enchanted with magic so that they can move, but no, they're not actually alive," said Lily. James looked at her in surprise.

"I didn't think you would know that!"

"I know many things that you would be surprised of," snapped Lily in an offended but playful tone.

"I got Bertie's Bott's Every Flavour Beans!" said the taller of the two. He popped one in his mouth but then spit it out immediately. "Bogey flavoured... yuck,"

Everyone giggled at the face he made.

"Well you see," said the long haired one , "we were trying to fit our trunks into the car for the luggage, and then we heard the engine start, so we scrambled onto the train, trying to find a seat for us all to sit in, James and I, that is, until the train started moving and we all fell into this box,"

"SNAPE! AH! I totally forgot! Sorry, I'll be back, one moment Riley," yelped Lily as she jumped up out of her seat and left the box car. Everyone was silent.

"...So... what now?" asked the boy called James.

"Well, first of all, you could probably introduce yourselves.." said Riley in a sarcastic tone.

"Right, yeah, that'd be a good idea. My name is James Potter. I'm a pure-blood," said James. He had unkempt black hair that stuck up at odd angles and seemed to have a mind of it's own. He had hazel colored eyes with what seemed like an arrogant look in them, unlike the boy sitting across from him.

"I'm Sirius, Sirius Black...and um..." he trailed off, not seeming to want to share his bloodline. Riley knew how he felt, not wanting to talk about her origins. He, too, had black hair, except his was curly, shoulder length, and well kept. He had brilliantly shiny grey eyes that held an heir of confidence, charm and a real knack for mischief. Riley grinned to herself.

"Well that's interesting..nice to meet you, I suppose," said Riley, with a note of sarcasm in her voice. Sirius let out an involuntary laugh then stopped once he realized that James was looking at him like he had three heads.

"What houses do you all want to be in?" asked James, which seemed mainly pointed at Sirius.

"Well, I'm not really sure... my whole family have been in Slytherin," he said.

"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed all right!" Sirius grinned at this, which made Riley's stomach flip.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?" he said, not noticing Riley's red face. to this, James lifted and invisible sword in the air.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad." he said.

"Well that's lovely, but um, does anyone know who Snape is?" asked Riley, trying to keep the conversation alive.

"Oh, you mean Snivellus!" piped James. Right as the words came out of his mouth, Lily walked back into the box, holding the hand of a boy with greasy, long black hair and sallow, slightly sunken in eyes. Riley couldn't help but laugh at the fact that James was staring directly at the two of them holding hands with a gaping mouth. He immediately composed himself and let out a arrogant laugh and said, "Look who we have here! The one and only, Snivellus! Can't believe Evans chose someone like you to be her friend! Haha!'

"I didn't "choose" him James!" said Lily with an angry look on her face. She immediately regretted what she had said and her face softened. She turned around and opened her mouth to apologize, but the boy had already uttered his words;

"I don't associate with filthy mud-bloods like her,"and just like that he let go of her hand and strutted off with hunched shoulders. Everyone except Lily and Riley gasped.

"WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?" yelled a furious and red James as he stood up with clenched fists. Sirius shot up and stood in front of James, giving him a look as if to say; "It's not worth it". Riley was confused at everyone's anger. Lily ran into the hallway with tears in her eyes. James sat back down slowly, as if he had been defeated in a battle that he hadn't fought.

"Anyone care what to explain to me what that means exactly...?" Riley approached the topic with caution, knowing that it couldn't possibly be anything good if that was the reaction.

"It's a slang term for people with muggle parents, like muggle born...that you have "dirty blood" as they call it.." said Sirius.

"Oh..." Riley trailed off, knowing that is what she is.. a "mudblood". Someone with dirty blood. The mood after that was quite somber. No one spoke, only the sound of the train moving on the tracks and the chatter of distant kids.

About two hours later of tense silence and awkward coughs, Lily returned to the box and sat down with a pleasant and composed look on her face. Everyone was a bit confused at the sudden shift in mood, but gladly welcomed it.

"Well hello everyone. Are you all ready for our first year at Hogwarts?"


	3. The Sorting Hat Ceremony

**The third chapter of Why So Sirius? Hope you guys like this one! This chapter is pretty long, so I apologize for the wait. This one will be in Riley's P.O.V**

**I do not own Harry Potter or anything in the wizarding world!**

I was surprised by Lily's question but I did certainly know one thing; I was in no way ready for everything that was about to come.

As I was lost in thought, I felt the train break, and I heard them screech against the tracks, and she cringed at the sound, but that meant they were close.

"So, anyone care to answer my question?" Asked Lily. James was the first to reply.

"Most certainly, I want to finally be able to use my wand," My wand! I totally forgot about my wand, which I think I got at a store called, "Ollivanders", I thought to myself. What if it won't work? What if I mess up? Or worse, hurt someone? My worry was interrupted by the train coming to a stop. I suddenly got a burst of panic, and excitement all in the same second. My stomach did a backflip when I looked out the train window.

"Riley, come on, grab your things, we're getting off," said Lily. I followed close behind Lily. The three boys were playfully pushing each other, motioning them to get off faster. I was starting to get more and more excited as I took each step. We finally reached the stairs that lead onto the platform. I stepped off and breathed in the fresh, warm air of wherever we were. It didn't matter to me where we were because I felt amazing.

"Oi, first-years over 'ere, all first-years!" called a booming voice from across the platform. Lily tugged at my arm so I obediently followed, clutching my small bag of things in my hand. even when we were weaving through the crowd of people, I still found myself looking around for Sirius, but I quickly scolded myself and made the thoughts of him retaliate.

We could hear the booming voice getting louder and louder as we snuck our way through the mass of moving bodies. As we finally reached the voice, I was thoroughly mistaken when I thought to look at eye level. I craned my neck as far as I could backward and saw a tall, burly figure with a wild mane of hair and a large beard standing in front of me. 'Well, more like looming over me', I thought to myself.

"'Ello there! Me name's Rubeus Hagrid, but ye can call me Hagrid!" beamed the large man. I laughed to myself and was quite surprised to find myself quickly standardizing myself to the new changes. I quite enjoyed it really, since I had always been stuck in the same place, never going anywhere except school and back.

Everyone started to quiet down and there were a few other students, other than first years that were left.

"Now, ello everyone! Me name's Hagrid, I'm the gamekeeper of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Since it's your first year, we'll all be takin' the boats across the lake to the school, where ye all will be met by Professor McGonagall. Then ye'll be sorted into yer 'ouses. So let's go. Stay together with a group of four!"

Lily, James, Sirius and I all gathered into the same boat.

"I wonder what types of creepy creatures are down there!" said James in a spooky tone which intended to scare us, but miserably failed, since we all laughed. after a few minutes of silence and water lapping the boats, we made it to the other side. My eyes immediately widened at the sight of the huge castle, which I assumed was the school. Every window was lit up with candles or some other luminous device. The castle was huge, much too huge for me to ever possibly call it home, but somehow I knew I'd end up finding it more comforting and loving than any other home I could ever own. And thanks to some certain people, I was sure that my time at Hogwarts would not be boring.

We got off the boats and walked up the large stairs until we made it inside of the castle. The smell of food filled my nose and I breathed in deeply, feeling very hungry after. The same lady that gave me my Hogwarts letter and brought me to Kings Crossing, walked out of immensely huge doors.

"Hello everyone. I am Professor McGonagall, I teach transfiguration here at Hogwarts and I hope to see you in my class at home point. This school was designed for all wizards and witches but no-nonsense will be tolerated... especially when I am present," she started intently with her shiny eyes, almost as if she was a cat.

"Now," she continued, "there are four houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, And Slytherin. You will be placed in your houses accordingly, so let's not dally, shall we?" We all entered through the large doors and many people let out gasps. The ceiling of the large hall had a starry, night sky, with candles suspended in mid-air. Four long, wooden tables stretched across the massive room and were filled with 'round a hundred student or more. Professor McGonagall quipped at us to get into a straight line and to follow her to the front of the room up the center aisle. We all tripped and stumbled over ourselves and each other. Since we had all changed into the long dresses that Lily called robes, I was tripping over mine.

We all made it to the front of the hall. Upon a stage-like platform, there was a wooden stool and a very old, weathered, pointed hat. Professor McGonagall made her way up the steps and grabbed a scroll that seemed to appear out of thin air. She rolled out the scroll and held it up in front of her with squinted eyes.

"I will go by last names," she said,

"Allison, Lucinda!" she called and a girl who was quite smaller than me climbed the stairs and nervously sat down on the chair. Suddenly, the hat came to life and I jumped back and hit Sirius in the chest.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I-" I stumbled.

"It's fine, really," he smiled, which showed his straight, white teeth, and I blushed furiously.

The hat that sorted the first years started speaking and I was taken aback in surprise.

"Hmmm, it'll be Hufflepuff for her!" it called and all of the table filled with the students in black and yellow robes clapped. The girl got off of the chair with a big smile on her face and joined the Hufflepuff table. I turned to ask Lily what house she thought she'd be in but I saw her talking to that boy named Snape.

"But Lily, you have to be in Slytherin, I won't have anybody without you.." he trailed off.

"Sev, I don't want to leave you either, you're my best friend, but I can't control the Sorting Hat, and we both know that," Lily said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"You just don't want to be in the same house as me because you want to be with the git James Potter," said Snape with disgust in his voice.

"No! He is rude and arrogant, I could never like that boy," spat Lily with a red hue in her cheeks. I ended up turning them out to listen to the sorting ceremony again. There had been about 12 students that had been sorted, all of which I didn't know the houses they were sorted into.

"Sirius Black!" called Professor McGonagall. My stomach twisted into a knot. I had no idea why, but I could feel the butterflies moving around.

"Hmmm, a long line of Slytherins in the family, I see... but you wish to be a rebel hmm? I see, I see... maybe...yes, yes, GRYFFINDOR!" cried the Sorting Hat triumphantly. The table with the Gryffindor's went wild. There were applauds, whoops, yells and cries of excitement. Sirius' face returned to its normal colour and he let out a sigh, hopped down from the stool and confidently took even strides over to the Gryffindor table. I couldn't help but grin at him as he moved and sat down, flashing his smile with his effortless good looks.

After the C and D, last names had been sorted, it finally came to Lily's turn. Her name was called and she nervously but gracefully walked up to the stool and placed herself on it. Almost as if the hat hadn't even touched her head, it yelled,

"GRYFFINDOR!" and Lily looked elated, but when her eyes met with Snapes, her smile faltered, and then kept her head down as she walked over to the table.

I was too enthralled with my own thoughts to notice that it was already past Remus' sorting, and he had been sorted into Gryffindor, along with a few others. I barely noticed my name when it was called. I started to sweat and get nervous. I slowly walked up the stairs, focusing all my energy on trying not to fall in front of the whole school. Once I made it to the stool, I sat myself down and looked at everyone with their eyes on me. I clamped my hands onto the sides of the chair and held on tightly with my eyes shut. I could feel the hat being placed on my head and it sprang to life.

"Well, what do we have here? A smart one, hmm, maybe Ravenclaw, but quite cunning and brave... I detect plenty of loyalty too... decisions, decisions... well.." pondered the Sorting Hat,

"It'll have to be... GRYFFINDOR!" it cried out. The emotions that I had felt all at once were almost too much to explain. At first, I was giddy, then I got butterflies as I saw Sirius laughing and cheering for me. I started to laugh too when I saw the look of excitement on Lily's face as I started to walk over. I got seated next to Lily, and across from Sirius, and he flashed me his winning smile and my heart skipped a beat. After multiple other names had been called, like "Abernathy, Cornelius", "Mary MacDonald", and "Lenty, Pittacus", it was finally James' turn to get sorted. Per usual, he strutted his way up to the chair and plopped down. Even before the hat had touched his black, messy hair, the hat screamed, "GRYFFINDOR!", just as it had with Lily. He showed off his white, straight teeth with his apparent trademark smile of smugness. He ran off the stage to join this best friend who was in the same house and celebrated. The main course appeared and I ate happily, the food tasting amazing.

"Hi, what's your name?" said James to a shorter, quiet, boy. He looked up from his food and said hello back. I could see in his eyes that he was quite clever.

"I'm Remus Lupin.. half-blood.. this is Peter Pettigrew," said Remus who messy clothing, and hair, continuing to talk as he stuffed his face with a chicken leg. The boy next to him had beady, watery grey eyes, a pointed nose that resembled a rat, and short dirty blonde hair. He was very short too.

"Well hello Remus, would you like to be our friend?" said Sirius, smiling. The boy had a sudden brightness in his eyes and smiled, indicating that he would like nothing better.

"See Evans? Now you can't say that I'm not brave, haha!" nagged James as he showed off his Gryffindor emblem on his robes.

"Oh, shut up James," said Lily in an annoyed voice, but I could see a smile playing on her lips, which she was clearly trying to hide.

I was a Gryffindor. I didn't really know what it meant, but I was proud, and I was certainly ready for the next chapter of the rest of my seven years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	4. New Beginnings

**Hi everyone, I am SO SORRY for the wait. I've just finished exams and school, and have started the summer break. I should hopefully get the next few chapters out within the next month or two since I will be at camp for 4 weeks this summer. I'm really sorry for the wait, and I hope to make it up to you guys in the next chapter, which should be filled with ****mischief and a bit of mayhem. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favorited, even if it's only a few people, it means a lot to me!**

Last night was crazy. There were no other words to explain it other than pure bliss, joy, and bloody brilliant. The huge feast in the Great Hall was amazing, by far the best meal I had ever had. After, we all got to lead up to the dormitories and had a celebration for all of the first years, which was absolutely brilliant. It was around 11:30 pm when everyone went to bed. Lily was clearly not impressed at my actions of staying up and being rowdy. I had no problem with it since it was easily the most fun I'd ever had. We all said goodnight and went up to our dorms, which would be our bedrooms for the remainder of the school year. I was put in a room with Lily (thankfully) and three other first-year girls named Mary MacDonald, Alice Fortescue, and Dorcas Meadowes.

**-The next** **morning-**

"Riley, Riley! Wake up, come on, it's our first school day at Hogwarts! Get your wand out! I wanna try some tricks before we go to get breakfast!" squealed Lily with pure excitement.

"Blimey Lily, what time is it?" I asked in a groggy voice. I rolled over on my side to check my watch that laid on the bedside table. It read 6:00 am.

"LILY! It's 6 in the morning! What're you doing? We just went to bed 7 and a half hours ago!" I wailed. She let out a sly grin but proceeded to poke me wither her wand.

"What kind of wand do you have? Mine is 10 and a quarter-inch long, made out of willow wood and it's swishy! Mr. Ollivander told me that it'd be good for charms, which, not to brag or anything, but I'm quite good already if I do say so myself," Lily continued on but I quite easily drowned her out as I was pulling on my robes. I brushed out my mane of long, extremely wavy hair and grabbed my wand and shoved it into my robes. I grabbed my toothbrush, entered the bathroom and proceeded to brush, as Lily kept up the steady streams of words that were flowing out of her mouth.

"Well that's all lovely, isn't it? So enlighten me, why on earth are we awake at this unearthly hour of the morning?" I said sarcastically as we walked down the stairs. I heard a light-hearted laugh and lifted my head to see the infamous quartet; James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

**Sirius' P.O.V- **

"She is gorgeous' I thought to myself as I saw her round the corner of the stairwell. I had honestly never seen someone so beautiful in my whole life. Now, of course, Lily was pretty too, but Riley... blimey. There was rarely ever a moment in my life that I didn't have something to say, but she had ended that streak. Her brilliant sea-green eyes reflected light as the sun streaming in from the common room window hit both her golden hair and eyes.

"Well that's all lovely, isn't it? So enlighten me, why on earth are we awake at this unearthly hour of the morning?" said Riley's smooth but cool voice in the distance. I laughed at her sarcasm.

"Why in Merlin's name are you two awake?" said James.

"I could ask you the same question too," said Lily as she quickly bounced back at James' question. I could definitely tell that they would be like mortal enemies... except the kind that hates each other but end up falling in love anyway. They already bickered like an old married couple and had only met less than 24 hours ago. Riley and I smiled at each other, and I could easily make out the redness in her cheeks from sleep. She was clearly thinking the same thing, no doubt. Merlin, she was gorgeous.

**Lily's P.O.V-**

That git, James Potter is positively the most annoying boy on this planet, with his messy, silky black hair, that perfect smile...gorgeous face...agh! 'Lily, stop!' I scolded myself. Why on earth was I attracted to some stuck up pig like him? Whatever made me like him, I wasn't sure of, but I knew that it definitely had to be put to a stop. It was only my first day at school and I was already distracted. That can not happen. I snapped back into reality when I saw that everyone was staring at me, waiting for my response.

"To practice charms, of course!" I finally managed to get out. "What is your wand type anyway Riley?" I asked, actually quite intrigued in the matter.

"Ummm, I think he said it was a rowan wood with a dragon heartstring core? And something about it being 12 and a half inches long with 'reasonable flexibility' " she said in a mock tone of the wand salesman. All of the boys laughed at her impression and I couldn't help myself but laugh too. She really was quite funny.

"Oh! I read about those while I was on the train! No dark witch or wizard has ever owned one and they are very good for defensive spells and they're quite hard to break too." I said factually.

"Well, isn't that nice Miss. Know-it-all" mocked James with his playful smile.

"Well, excuse me for knowing things that you could never remember even if you studied the one sentence for three years straight," I shot back defensively.

"Oooooooh," called the three other boys behind James and both Riley and I smirked at the look on James's face.

"Oh, will you two just stop already, I would like to try my wand before sundown if you don't mind," said Sirius.

"Yes, let's," I said. James was the first one to cast a simple spell, and the tip of his wand lit up.

"Lumos," he said in a low tone that gave me butterflies. He smirked at me.

"Fine, but do you know the spell to put out the light?" I said. I whispered in Riley's ear to swish her wand and whisper 'nox' so she did.

"Nox," she said. and the light on his wand went out and the quartet looked very surprised.

"How did I do that? I've never even held a wand before, let alone cast a spell!" Riley shrieked. Sirius laughed and replied.

'I guess you are a natural," he said and Riley blushed.

"Well I mean I wouldn't say that.." said Riley hurriedly.

"Well, whatever, who cares if you're a natural or not, I just wanna go down to the Great Hall and get some food, we've already wasted over an hour of time that we could have been using to eat food!" whined Remus. We all laughed and proceeded to go down to the Great Hall to get breakfast. All of us could smell the food from the hallways and winding corridors.

**Riley's P.O.V-**

After a few minutes of getting lost then finding our way back to the hallway to the Great Hall, we made it for the very first breakfast we had at Hogwarts. I was exhilarated by the fact that I was about to start classes. As a witch! At a magical school with wands! Everything was so mind-boggling, even the food and how everything was served. We all gobbled down our breakfast in almost complete silence st the Gryffindor table, since it was so early in the morning.

30 minutes after breakfast at 8:00, Professor McGonagall gave us all of our time tables. First period I had Charms with Lily, Sirius, and James, while the other two boys had another class. The second period I had potions with Lily, the boys had Herbology, then lunch, then History of Magic and finally flying at 4th period with all of the Gryffindor first years. I was super nervous but scared at the same time. I was so inexperienced that I was afraid I'd make a fool of myself and everyone would find out that I was a muggle-born... if they hadn't already caught on to my "muggle" look. The four of us got up and parted with Remus and Peter as they went to a different class.

"So, uh, does anyone know where Charms class is?" I asked.

"I think Professor McGonagall said it was in the East Towers.." said Lily as she was intently staring at the small map that the professor gave us.

"Gee, thanks Lily, that's a great help. I'll just whip out my pocket compass and find the east towers in a jiffy!" quipped James in his sarcastic tone.

"Well, for your information, James Potter, by now you should know which direction east is in," said Lily mater-o-factually. We all laughed at James and his ears turned red like a tomato. After a few minutes of everyone following a very concentrated Lily, we made it to the charms classroom with less than a minute to spare. We entered the classroom and took our seats. I sat next to Lily who was on my left and Sirius on my right. James, who was clearly head over heels for Lily, casually plopped himself down next to her. Half of me found it cute but the other half reminded me of how big of a git he was, which put a scowl on my face.

"Good morning class!" called an unidentifiable squeaky, high pitched voice from somewhere in the room. Heads turned and eyes scanned the room for the body that belonged to the voice.

"Yes, yes, I'm over here. Ha-ha, very funny. Well hello everyone, I am Professor Flitwick, and I will be teaching you charms this year, and most likely for your remaining years here at Hogwarts, depending on your ambitions out in the world." he said with his squeaky voice.

I couldn't help but giggle at his voice, and Sirius stifled a laugh too.

"Today we will be learning about the very first, most basic skill you will learn here is the following; Wingardium Leviosa! Now, many of your parents have probably told you about this charm, so a good few of you are familiar with the wrist movement; Swish and flick! Now everyone together, 'swish and flick'.

"Swish and flick!" everyone said in unison. Right away, Lily's feather raised into the air and she beamed.

"Showoff," said James under his breath. Lily stuck her tongue out at him. While the two of them were having an ugly face contest, Sirius and I continued to make our feathers levitate. To be quite honest, I was simply amazed at the fact that you could make feathers fly with a stick, a hand movement, and an incantation. I was positive that I looked like quite the git with my mouth hanging open in awe.

"Wingardium leviosa!" I said in a commanding tone, which was one of my specialties, I might add. As the words tumbled out my mouth, the feathers started to rise and I laughed. I asked Sirius what time it was and he whispered back to me that almost 15 minutes had passed. His breath against my ear tickled and my stomach did a backflip.

"Wow," I mouthed. Just as my feather rose, so did Sirius's. It appeared that Lily and James had finished the ugly face contest and Lily was pleasantly floating her feather across the room, while James was basically whacking the feather with his wand and spewing gibberish, which sounded like 'winsharumlivesowinshiumlesovia". Minutes later, I was playing around with the feather, making it turn in circles by the simple movement of my wand, when I saw Sirius and James floating their feathers towards Flitwick. He was helping a student from Hufflepuff when all of a sudden, their feathers landed on the Professors neck and he let out the highest pitch shriek I had ever heard. the feathers were tickling him all over until he ended up on the floor. Suddenly the professor got up and spotted the boys. He made a face, which was probably meant to be anger, but came out looking like a scrunched up mouse. The whole class laughed, including Lily, although she composed herself within seconds.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd send you two to see the Headmaster, but this time I will let it slide." and he got back up on his stack of books, and eyed the two pranksters for a long time.

After a solid 30 minutes of kids trying to levitate their feathers, Professor Flitwick announced to us that we did not have homework, except to practice the charm we did in class. Everybody waited by the door, the Hufflepuffs chatting excitedly with their own house, and the Gryffindors with theirs.

"So what do we have next on our timetable Lily?" I asked her.

"Well, we have potions next, while the boys have Herbology," she recited.

"Ughhhhhh, hErBoLoGy. BORING" said James.

"James Potter, you are the biggest git I know, and that is saying something since I have lived with my sister for my whole life," said Lily and I burst out laughing, remembering seeing and hearing her sister at the platform. Her face resembled a horse; a long neck, buck teeth, and a long nose.

"Yeah, she's not lying. 'Lily! _Ah, no, come back, LiLyYyyYYy'_" I remarked, mimicking her sister's voice. James's face turned red and Sirius and Lily laughed.

"Fine,"

"Fine," and they parted ways as the bell rung, indicating that it was 9:45.

**Lily's P.O.V**

I never really looked in any of my potions books before I got to Hogwarts, so I really didn't know what I was expecting. In full honesty, I was just glad to be away from Severus so that we didn't need to confront each other about anything that had happened in the past two days. Riley and I walked down to the dungeons where potions were. Professor Slughorn was teaching potions. I hadn't seen him in the halls, so I was simply guessing on his appearance from what people have told me; scruffy beard, large stomach, and considerably short.

"So do you know any potion stuff or anything fancy like that yet?" asked Riley nervously.

"Well, I skimmed through a few of our books, especially potions and charms, so I suppose, but I am still Muggle-born," I replied. Half of what I said was a lie. I thoroughly looked through each of my books, especially those two, since they interested me the most. I was already using spells and charms that were not taught until the end of the term. When I thought about Hogwarts, I expected lots of magic and things you see in movies, but so far, it was relatively normal, compared to everything I had heard about it. I looked over at Riley and saw a look of relief melt over her face and I laughed. In the little amount of time that I had known Riley, she was clearly the life of the party, and also very comedic.

We turned a corner and entered a hallway, finally bringing us to a halt in front of the large door to the Potions classroom.

"Oho! Look at all of the young bright faces we have here! Brilliant, brilliant, come now, I have a wonderful lesson planned for you all today," called a booming but cheerful voice as the door opened with a creak of metal grinding against stone. Both Riley and I inclined our head by a fraction of an inch to see a short, balding man with a stomach that preceded him. To add to his odd appearance, he sported a huge mustache, which rippled when he spoke.

"I, am Professor Slughorn, and I will be your potions master for the remainder of this year," he said with an air of dramatics. He smiled and motioned everyone to come in. Riley and I looked at each other and I knew we were both thinking the same thing; this was going to be one interesting roller coaster of a year.

**I hope you guys enjoyed! Next chapter should be coming in early August, but hopefully sooner. Fingers crossed. I'm really sorry for the wait! If you have anything you'd like me to improve on or add, just throw a comment out there and I'll reply as soon as I can. Thanks!**


	5. Hogwarts Mishaps

**Hi guys! I'm glad I got this chapter out quickly! I won't be able to work on the following chapter next week since I'm on vacation, so please bear with me till I get the next chapter out, in maybe two weeks or so. For all of you who ship Snape and Lily, there's a little bit of that for ya in this chapter (even I don't ship them, I'm sorry, don't come at me** **lol)**.** Thanks, guys! Until the next chapter.. - fand0m-phaser -**

A thick stream of students filed into the classroom, every face looking nervous but excited. I took a seat alongside Riley and glanced around the room, and then I froze. Snape's eyes were glued on me, with a look than could freeze over hell itself. I quickly turned my head back towards Riley, praying that he wouldn't come over to talk to me, or tell me off for hanging out with a 'filthy mudblood'. I inhaled sharply and began to take out my pewter cauldron, trying to distract myself from the pair of eyes that were drilling into the back of my head. Professor Slughorn motioned for everyone to quiet down and he began to speak.

"Hello everyone! As I have already introduced myself, I find it only fitting for everyone else to do in turn. Let's begin on the left side shall we?" He motioned to the left side of the room and kids began introducing themselves in quiet, nervous voices. The group of Slytherins looked contemptuous and bored as they said their names. By the time it got to our side of the classroom, Snape had already gone and there were many mutters and whispers rising after he spoke. The introductions finally reached Riley and the mutters suddenly stopped.

"Hi, I'm Riley Janes," she said in her usual smooth and cool voice. I was truly quite jealous of the way she could talk in front of people with such a calm and collected way like she didn't care what people thought of her.

**Riley's P.O.V**

Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh, they're all silently judging me, what are they thinking? What does the Professor think? Do they know I'm muggle-born? Am I trying too hard or not enough? Should I have said hello instead of hi? Or would that be too formal? I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to hear Lily introduce herself to the class.

Overthinking; my hidden talent. Being this nonchalant comes at a price, you know. I glanced around at everyone, and I could feel every pair of eyes that were on me, slide over to Lily's face, who looked rather clammy and pale.

"Um.. hi, I'm Lily Evans...uh.." she stammered. Professor Slughorn smiled at her, making his large mustache bend upwards.

"Excellent, excellent! Well, welcome to Potions! Let us commence the brewing!" The class began to pull out cauldrons, scales, and ingredients from their bags. I, for one, did not particularly know what I was doing. I glanced around the class and I didn't seem to be the only one. Everybody else looked just as lost as I did. He had told us to pull out our books and look on page 11, which was the Cure for Boils. I flipped through the few pages and found a rather disturbing picture of someone covered in large red sores. I grimaced and looked over at Lily. My mouth dropped. She had already added her 6 snake fangs into her cauldron, crushed and slides her onion, and was beginning to add the dried nettles into the bottom. I began to read the instructions and set to work:

**_1\. Add 6 snake fangs to your cauldron and stir_**

**_2\. Slice your Pungous Onion finely and place in the cauldron, then heat the mixture._**

**_3\. Add dried nettles._**

**_4\. Add a dash of Flobberworm mucus and stir vigorously._**

**_5\. Add a sprinkle of powdered ginger root and stir vigorously again._**

**_6\. Add pickled Shrake spines._**

**_7\. Add a glug of stewed horned slugs._**

**_8\. Add porcupine quills._**

**_9\. Wave your wand over the cauldron to finish the potion._**

I finished these steps and the potion was looking quite good if I did say so myself. It was a light shade of pink, almost like the book said, although I could not say the same for most of the class. Most people were trying not to throw up at the horned slugs, and other potions were black, turquoise or a dark shade of purple that were emitting orange smoke that smelled like vomit. I was quite pleased with myself until I looked over at Lily's potions and I gaped at her. She turned the same shade of pink as her potion when she saw the look on my face and laughed a little.

"Oh yes, because that perfect potion definitely shows that you haven't read your books AT ALL," I said sarcastically.

"Okay, fine, maybe I skimmed through it," she said sheepishly and I couldn't help but laugh.

**James, Sirius, Lupin and Peter in History of Magic (Remus P.O.V)**

"These events all took place in this area, but the exact whereabouts are all unknown..". Professor Binns was a ghost who taught History of Magic, which, I add, is probably the most boring subject on the planet. My head was resting on my desk, and I was awaiting sleep, which would hopefully spare me to listen to the awful droning that the professor was doing.

"Psst, Lupin, mate, you still awake?" whispered Sirius as he poked me with his wand.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing, I am trying to sleep," I said in a heated tone. He laughed quietly.

"We're thinkin' of shooting spitballs at Binns and seeing what happens. Care to partake?" said James from the other side of Sirius. I thought to myself that on the first day, they're already making trouble, but what did I expect? Being friends with the two most infamous pranksters at this school was never an easy job. I began to rip small pieces of paper for them out of my notebook, balled them up and stuck one in my mouth. Peter was doing the same. I grabbed a straw from them and positioned it over my lips and blew. All at once, the class burst out laughing when the spitballs went right through him and landed on the wall behind him. He looked up and glared at the four of us.

"Now boys, it is your first day here. I do not wish to take any points from you today. Sit back down and open your books, please. I do not want any more shenanigans," he said, and I turned and looked at Sirius and James, who were sniggering, and Peter, who's ears were red with embarrassment from being scolded. I rolled my eyes and sank back into my chair, eyeing a rather pretty girl from Ravenclaw across the room.

**Later at lunch...**

"Well that was eventful," said Sirius. Everyone had gathered back in the Great Hall for lunch when Lily and Riley came through the doors of the Hall. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all seated at the Gryffindor table, talking about the great event of the spitballs. Their heads were all together, conversing when James caught Lily's eye and his hand shot up to his hair, ruffling it. Sirius gave him a weird look. That was the first time either of them saw James do that. Lupin and Sirius looked at each other and shrugged.

"Whatcha losers up to?" said Riley in a suspicious voice. The six of them looked at each other for a solid ten seconds, then laughed. Riley had a lovely feeling as she sat down with Lily a few feet away from the boys and simply chatted. It felt good knowing that she had friends that she could talk to, and even just the fact that she had friends.

**Riley's P.O.V**

Lily and I walked down to the grounds talking quietly, where we would have our first flying class with the Slytherins. Defense Against the Dark Arts went by slowly and painfully. I could tell that Lily was just as nervous as I am for the next class. Everything we had done so far, Lily excelled in, but I had a feeling that flying on a broomstick would not be something she would do well in. We continued to talk about the day's events. I noticed that her full attention was not with the conversation, and instead on Severus Snape, who looked just as pale and sallow-skinned as ever.

"Blimey Lily, what's gotten into you? He's just another kid from Slytherin.. but from what I hear, he's more than just that to you if I'm not mistaken," I said while looking between her and Snape.

"No, he is not! Well..oh, I don't know Riley, he's complicated," she explained.

"Well yeah, I gathered that much," I remarked and she grinned slightly.

**Snape's P.O.V**

Flying, what an excuse for a class, I thought while reading my book. I could hear Lily's voice in my head and what she would say to me if she heard.

"Sev, come on, they're just trying to prepare us for later in life, give it a try!" she would say cheerfully. I rolled my eyes but smiled a little to myself behind my book. I glanced up and looked at Lily, who was smiling at another girl. At least it wasn't James Potter. What a git. So full of himself and excessively arrogant. Ever since the train from King's Crossing, I've hated his guts. Acting so high and mighty with his unkempt hair and dumb smile. Ugh. I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to notice that Lily was walking right towards me. I instantly turned red, remembering the last encounter we had at the Sorting Hat Ceremony.

"Um, Sev? Can we talk?" she said feebly. I attempted to look up at her with an air of resentment, but automatically failed once I saw her bright green almond-shaped eyes.

"I suppose,'' I said shortly.

"Listen, I'm sorry about James, his head is just full of air," she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. I smirked a little behind my book, trying to hide my pleasure at these words.

"Yes, I'm aware," I said, and couldn't help but think about the moments when we used to share before we came to Hogwarts, back in Cotswold Village, where she and I used to live.

"So friends? I really hate not talking to you, you know.." she asked quietly. A pang of annoyance hit me in the stomach. I knew she didn't feel the same way I felt about her, but I had to accept it until further on.

"Me too Lily," I mumbled, pointedly not looking at her. She showed her white teeth and a lovely smile. She had small dimples and large cheeks. Although she was beautiful, this didn't matter all that much to me. It was her personality that had intrigued me in the first place.

"I don't like the Potter boy. You can't possibly be friends with him." I added with a note of anger in my voice.

"I am not his 'friend'! He is stuck up and an airhead. And if it means that much to you, I won't even talk to him," she added indignantly. A feeling of triumph washed over me.

"Okay, Lily... I'll see you later. Meet me in the library at 7." I added hastily. She gave me a puzzled look.

"Why?" she asked.

"Please?" I pleaded.

"Fine, I'll see you then," and with that, she turned and walked back to the other girl with long, thick, wavy, caramel gold hair.

**Riley's P.O.V**

"Soooo?" I asked expectantly as she walked back towards me.

"We're meeting in the library at 7," she said quietly.

"What?" I spluttered. "Don't you think you should get to know him a bit first? Lily, we're 11! He's a creepy bloke, you're not concerned at all?" I asked her, quite dumb-founded.

"Riley, I've known him since I was 8. We lived in the same area, he was the one who introduced me to the wizarding world. I trust him. And for the record, he is not 'creepy'!" she said defiantly.

"Okay, fine... I don't really know why you hang out with him after what he said to you though.."

"He didn't mean it, it's fine," she said in a voice that didn't totally convince me.

"Alright then.." and I turned away since the class was starting.

"Well hello everyone, my name is Madam Hooch and I will be your flying teacher,". A lady with bright yellow eyes was at the front of the class, with spiky silver-grey hair.

"Today you will be learning how to summon a broom, mount, kick-off, and land. So, let us not delay," she said, motioning us all to stand at the side of your brooms.

"I would like you all to stand beside it, place your hand above it, and say 'up' with purpose and confidence. Ready? You may go," and there was a chorus of voices saying 'Up!'. Almost immediately the broom zoomed up into my hand. There only seemed to be one other person who had managed to do the same; James Potter. I would've felt quite satisfied with myself if it wasn't for the look of smugness that James threw at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and he turned away, laughing. Even if Lily didn't want to be friends with him, he and his friends seemed like a fun lot. Even if she didn't want them around, that wouldn't stop me from doing it. I could be friends with them both.

Lily had not managed to get the broom into her hand, and Remus and Peter were having quite the time too. The boy named Snape could not get his broom to move even an inch. After three minutes of frustrated yells of 'up!' everyone had their broom in their hand.

"Now, I would like you all to mount your brooms." Madam Hooch said, and we did so, some having a harder time than others.

"Please keep your feet on the ground. When I tell you to, you will gently push off the ground in a controlled manner, and then ease yourself back down by leaning forward a bit." the teacher told us. I did as she said. The feeling of being lifted off the ground was exhilarating, despite the measly few inches, there were between my feet and the grass. I let out a hysterical laugh and a feeling of pure joy flooded me.

"Very well done!" Madam Hooch called to James and I. I beamed, and so did James. "Ten points to each of you, very well done," she said. I turned to Lily, who seemed to be shaking and wobbling on her broom. She couldn't seem to get down.

"Lily, come on, she told us to ease back down," I said nervously.

"What do you think I'm trying to do Riley?" she said in a panicked voice. She looked sweaty and pale. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Lean forward on your broom a little and calm yourself. After that, you should start to come back down." I told her. As I said this, she scrunched up her face in concentration, leaned forward, and immediately crumpled on the ground, in a very ungraceful way. I laughed as I helped her up.

"Not a word Riley, not a word," she said miserably.

"Well, I suppose we've finally found something that you aren't perfect at," I said.

"Oh shut up," she said in a playful but annoyed tone.

Although we found out that Lily did not excel at flying, I had finally found something I enjoyed, and furthermore, something I was actually good at, despite the small thing that it was. It was something I felt like I could do. And with that, 40 minutes later, Lily and I left the grounds, going to the common room to talk about our very first day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	6. A Hurricane of Thoughts

The crowded common room fire crackled pleasantly. It was after supper and the two girls were sitting in two squashy chairs by the fire, finishing up homework from Potions; it was reading up on the next potion they would be doing.

**Riley's P.O.V**

"'_Forgetfulness__ potion is very useful in situations of danger, or for personal aid..'" _said Lily in a deep, gruff voice. I laughed.

"Very good impression of Arsenius Jigger, Lily," I said, giggling while reading off the book's title.

"Why thank you," she said laughing.

"So... it's 6:57... are you going to meet him or not?" I asked casually. Her face went a light shade of red.

"Well yes, of course, I will," she said.

"Then get going, what are you doing waiting here?".

"Alright, alright. I'll see you later," she said airily.

"I'll wait up for you," I said, and with that, she climbed out of the portrait hole. As Lily left, Sirius entered. My stomach knotted and I quickly buried my face into _Magical Potions and Drafts_. He looked over at me and grinned.

"Hello, Janes. What are you reading?" he asked casually as he sat down in the chair next to me. At first, my head was spinning with thoughts. I looked at him and unintentionally laughed out loud. Despite him being 11, he was extremely good looking for his age. He really was too handsome for his own good. Even as I thought this, there were many girls around the common room staring at him and whispering and giggling to their friends. He gave me a confused look that momentarily whipped away the confident look on his face, but he quickly recovered.

"Why are you laughing?" he said, starting to laugh too.

"It's nothing," I said, waving my hand airily. He looked at me as though he wasn't fully convinced, but shrugged.

"Ok.. so what're you reading?" he pressed on.

"Just finishing the homework from Slughorn," I said. He gave me an indignant look.

"How could you do such a thing on the first day of school? Outrageous I say," giving me a fake offended and mischievous look. I looked right back at him, narrowing my eyes.

"You rarely ever talk to me unless I start the conversation.. what are you up to? And where's Remus and Peter? And especially James? You two are inseparable..." I said suspiciously. He attempted to keep a straight face but cracked his crooked grin.

"Maybe I decided that you're not as scary as you look, Janes," he said nonchalantly and tilted his head to the side with a grin plastered on his face. My heart skipped a beat, but then I processed what he said.

"Wait what? You think I'm scary?" I asked, a little shocked. He laughed.

"Nah, I'm just pulling your wand, I'm not scared of anything," he said coolly. He got up and walked upstairs towards his dormitory and threw his head back to give me a smile.

"See ya tomorrow Janes," and disappeared behind the curving staircase.

_Sirius, was in fact, scared of very little, with the exception of a very private secret..._

**Sirius's P.O.V**

I walked up the stairs, wishing that my dorm would be empty, but I knew it wouldn't be. James, Remus, and Peter were up there waiting for me to tell them what happened. I opened the door and was greeted by loud whoops from the boys.

"Sirius, what happened? Did you get her?" James asked. Out of context to any other person, this would sound like I was trying to ask Riley out, but it was quite the opposite really. We all planned to execute a prank on her while Lily wasn't there so she couldn't stop us, which I obviously did not do. I was supposed to go downstairs and chat her up while a pre-placed dung bomb went off that was already under her chair. I was all ready to go until she laughed. It was sort of like the air was sucked out of my lungs like I couldn't breathe for a split second. This, of course, ceased when she stopped laughing. I don't really know what caused it to happen, but it was almost like a switch went off in me. Her laugh was contagious and happy. I didn't feel the need to make her miserable with a prank like I normally did with everyone else.

"Sirius!" someone called. James was snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"Uh, yeah?" I said, returning back to the real world. They all looked at me in a confused manner.

"So did you do it?" he asked eagerly.

"Uh, no, I didn't. A prefect walked by before I could do it.". This, of course, was a lie, but the three were none-the-wiser. I didn't want them to think that I'd lost my nerve or was going soft for some girl.

"You're bluffing mate. You don't even know who the Gryffindor prefects are! And even if you did, why would you care?" asked James.

"Dunno.," I said, realizing that my lie was quite hallow and there was nothing to back it up.

"Blimey... Sirius.. you don't _like _her, do you?" asked James, with wide eyes.

"No! What would make you think that! Ew, no!" I said, pretending to strangle myself, roll around on James's bed, then play dead. The boys all laughed, and I then took his pillow and chucked it as hard as I could at James. I heard a thump and knew I had hit my target.

"Why, you..." James yelled and took up my pillow and threw it across the room. This commenced the wildest pillow fight in the history of Hogwarts. Feathers were flying, Remus was building himself a base out of sheets and trunks, and Peter was hiding in the corner, laughing and shrieking.

The truth was, Sirius did find Riley extremely pretty; in fact, much prettier than any girl he had ever really seen. But something was different about her. He could not put his finger on it, so he decided that for the rest of the year, he would simply investigate from afar. Sirius did not fancy Riley, but he did have a small, swooping feeling every time she was around. She made him feel better when she was around, but he was too wrapped up with his best friends to even think about girls. There was plenty of time for that later down the road...

**Lily's P.O.V**

I walked through the mostly empty corridors of Hogwarts, all the way to the library to meet Severus. I didn't really know what he wanted to show me, but whatever it was, I was nervous, and to be quite honest, I didn't really want to know what it was, despite Severus being my best friend. I walked into the library and saw him pouring over a book. What a surprise. I smiled and walked over to him.

"Well hello there stranger," I said and he looked up and cracked a smile. "So what did you want to talk about exactly?" I asked. He turned pink.

"Well, I don't know, I just wanted to see you, really, catch up a little since we haven't talked for a bit..." he mumbled.

"Sev, it's been 24 hours," I said laughing. He laughed breathlessly too.

"Yeah, I know."

"So have you made any friends yet?" I asked, trying to break the tension a little.

"Yes, a few," he responded.

"Any favourite subjects so far?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions... and you?"

"Potions and charms," I replied. I took a seat next to him and read over his shoulder. We began to talk about what Petunia was probably doing at the moment and making animated faces of her pouting. We laughed and talked, then I simply rested my head on his shoulder and we read together in silence. This is what it used to feel like, how it used to be before that dumb, arrogant Potter. He ruined what we had. What a git. Suddenly, there was a tap on my shoulder.

"No romance in the library. Aren't you two much too young for this?" demanded the lady behind us.

"I, what, no? This isn't 'romance'! He's my best friend!" I spluttered. Severus and I were both red as a tomato.

"Alright, fine, but the library is closed, it's 8 o'clock. Hurry along now," she said threateningly. Sev and I hurried along the corridors of the school and we parted ways at the Gryffindor portrait.

"I had fun, you know," I said, looking him in the eyes.

"Me too," he said.

"So we'll catch up later then?" I asked, hurrying the conversation, hoping we wouldn't get caught being out this late at night.

"Yes, yeah," he said. And without another word, he turned around and left down the stairs.


	7. Story Update

Hi everyone! fand0m-phaser here. I've been prolonging writing the 7th installment to _Why So Sirius?_ due to a number of reasons. I wanted to ask my readers (not that there are many, but for those who do, thank you so much, it's super cool to know my writing and time is not going completely to waste) if anyone would mind if I simply skimmed over their first year, since nothing really exciting happens that has not already taken place. I would, of course, continue writing about small events that will happen throughout their first year but mainly skipping to their examinations in June, which I will touch on. I would then start the new 'book' (just a new chapter really but it would be like the Harry Potter series with like the new books each year right? Okay sorry, I'm rambling,) and begin with a recap of everyone's summer, then launch into their second year. As most of you probably already know, the more exciting events happen once they get into their older years, like 4 and up. This, of course, is because the ongoing occurrences of Lily and James (cue the melting of my heart) becoming more mature, both romantically, physically and mentally, and Sirius's lovely talent for ending up in over half the female population's beds. This creates a roller coaster of events with Riley and Sirius's love life, but no spoilers, I promise.

_**OR...**_

The other option is that I continue writing their first year, which, might I add, will be quite boring, but I mean whatever floats your boat. If the majority vote IS that I continue with their first year in detail, I will try to make it as exciting as possible for you.

_**OR... (again)**_

I could simply do the first option but including the 2nd and 3rd year too, since like I said, 4 and up is where the action is, with the exception of touching on certain things through these 3 years between months, including summers, and a big event that happens in their second year (but again, no spoilers.)

I'm really sorry if none of that made sense, but I tried my best. I'm the kind of person who's brain is literally everywhere at once. Je suis desole.

_-ANYWHO-_

An update for anyone interested in seeing new writing or stories from me; I did publish another story called _Just a Little Fire Whisky_ which is about.. well actually, just go and read the summary, you'll see it. Another thing to add is that I am starting a new fan-fiction about_ The Fault in Our Stars _(an exemplary book if I do say so myself, John Green is a complete genius) but there's a twist- Augustus lives, and both Hazel, Isaac, and Gus end up NEC (basically cancer-free) which you'll see how that happens when I manage to publish the first chapter. So if there are any TFION fans out there, be on the lookout for that. It's actually shaping up pretty well, not to brag, because I actually normally scrap anything I ever write really.

OkAy, back to the task at hand-

If you guys want to give me any suggestions for the story and about the whole situation I explained above for _Why So Sirius?_ then you can either go and find my poll about it and vote, you could PM me, or just leave a review. Your options are for me to -

1). Keep writing in detail about their first year and continue like that throughout.

2). Skim over most of their first year with minor events happening over the months, but mainly just skip to their examinations and skip to their second year, where I will resume the detailed story.

Or 3). Have option 2 apply to years 1 through 3 and just go to 4 after small events throughout each year between months (with the exception of a big thing in year 2).

PM ME, LEAVE A REVIEW, VOTE ON MY POLL, OR EMAIL ME FOR YOUR ANSWER!

Email is haleyee at icloud dot com OR gryffindorseeker2004 at gmail dot com (it won't let me write it out with the at sign but you get the idea)

Thank you for listening to my rant lol, see you guys in the next chapter which is coming soon called _Cornered._


	8. Cornered

It was Halloween night. Everyone was too excited during classes to focus. For the first years, it was going to be their first Halloween Feast at Hogwarts and it seemed to be the only topic of conversation that anybody was able to talk about.

"Do you think they'll have bats for supper? Or maybe pickled eyeballs!" asked Mary. Mary MacDonald was a girl in Riley and Lily's dormitory that they met on the second day of school, along with two other girls named Alice Fortescue and Dorcas (Doe) Meadowes. The group were very good friends now and hung out nearly all the time. They were together at dinners, sat together during classes, and they did their homework together in the common room. Both Lily and Riley had moved on from their infatuations with Sirius and James, especially Lily, realizing how stuck up James was. The number of pranks that they had pulled on the two of the girls was insurmountable; bewitched dung bombs, flying library books, jinx's and hexes aimed from hidden places and nooks. They were quite upset with their immaturity and lack of respect for girls. In recent weeks, James' most favorite two words seemed to be,

**Riley's P.O.V**

"Alright, Evans?" James called from the top of the stairs as Riley and Lily made their way down the stairs to the feat from their common room. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all with him too. They trotted down the stairs after them.

"Piss off Potter!" I yelled back at him. Lily and I broke into a run, not wanting to be late for the feast, where Alice and Doe were waiting for them. They walked into the Great Hall and could smell the food. They sat down next to Alice and Doe.

"What's been keeping you?" Alice asked.

"Dumb children that are incapable of retaining any possible brain cells," I said, knowing that they knew who I was referring to. They all laughed.

"Ah, speak of the devil," said Doe, throwing the 4 boys enter the hall, throwing them a glare.

"Just ignore them," and Dumbledore stood up as I said this. He gave his small speech and the food appeared on the golden plates. We all ate and laughed late into the night. By eleven, we all went back up to the common room. We were all quite hazy and loopy from all the candy and food until suddenly Lily yelled.

"AH! Oh, sorry, hehe, Riley, could you go and find Sev for me and get a book from him? He'll know which one it is. I think he's down in the dungeons somewhere..." she trailed off and started giggling again. I said yes and went off. I took the stairs down to the dungeons, where it began to get increasingly cold. The stone walls reflected the eerie green light from the lit lanterns. I heard my footsteps echo on the walls, which seemed to be joined by another pair of feet. The hair on my neck stood up on end and I began to get goosebumps. I turned around, deciding that I would tell Lily that he wasn't around. The footsteps were getting closer and I sped up but got stopped in my tracks. Two fifth years from Slytherin on either side of the two halls drew nearer towards me in a corner.

"Well hello there. You're awfully pretty for a firstie," sneered a boy with crooked teeth and short hair.

"D'you mind leaving me alone," I mumbled to the floor. They laughed.

"Heard you were a mud-blood. Is that right? Severus Snape seems to think you're a dumb prat.. seems about right.." said the other one, sizing me up. My face got hot.

"Is that really what he said?" I said through gritted teeth, remembering Snape calling Lily a 'mud-blood'. "Well, tell him for me that he can kiss my ass," I said, raising my wand and shouting '_Incendio'!. _Their robes caught fire and they screamed. I made for the stairs and ran faster than I ever had. I didn't stop until I was all the way to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Pumpkin Pasties!" I yelled frantically.

"And what are you doing awake at this wretched hour of the night?" she scowled at me.

"Just OPEN!" and she reluctantly swung the portrait to let me in. I dashed inside, hurtled up the stairs, yanked open the door and flung myself onto the bed. The girls all woke up, groggily opening the curtains from their beds.

"Riley, what the hell?" said Alice.

"5th years..cornered me..." I said between breaths. I was bent over with hands on my knees. Their eyes were all wide with shock.

"What'd you mean you got cornered by 5th years? What house? How did it happen? I just asked you to get a book from Snape!" said Lily, quite abash.

"Well Lily, apparently your 'bestie' seems to think that I'm a dumb prat. Why the hell are you even friends with that guy? He's a slimy git!" I said, still out of breath.

"Don't you dare say that ever again," she warned, throwing me a steely glare.

"I'll say whatever I want until you straighten him up!' I yelled furiously. "I'm going to bed," I grumbled.

* * *

**Riley's P.O.V**

Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Well, really only two months. The Christmas break was drawing nearer. When I say nearer, I mean two days. Despite everyone's excitement to go back home for the break, I was dreading every second of it. I wanted to stay here at Hogwarts, but my parents decided they wanted me home. When I got their letter, I laughed. As if they'd actually be home to see me anyway. Christmas time means Drinking time for them. I begged them to let me stay, but they said,

"No, you're brothers are coming home too, you need to see them. No further discussion."

"Fine," I said out loud in the Great Hall during breakfast, looking at the letter I just received from a school owl.

_'At least my brothers are coming home'_ I thought to myself. Dylan, Josh, and Ryan were all older than me. To be honest, they did more parenting than my actual parents. While they were out drinking, my brothers were at home looking after me and taking care of me, when they could've been out doing the exact same as my parents. Dylan was 16, currently at a boarding school in London, with Josh, who was also finishing up his last year, since he's 18. Ryan is a complete genius, and he's 20, currently going to Harvard in the USA. Now I know what you may be thinking.

"Oh my gosh, Harvard is literally $67,580 Canadian dollars for ONE year, including tuition, board, room, and fees. How could your parents even afford that?"

Well here's the thing. In my parent's constant state of drunkenness, you also would be wondering where they get all the money from to buy these drinks. Most peoples parents who drink are commonly poor. But here's the catch; my family is rich as hell.

When I say rich, I mean RICH. Like almost billionaire rich. Now, of course, this is not something I go around parading it to people since my dad is the dick-wad of the century. Now of course, thankfully most people here aren't in touch with the muggle world like I am, which is good, so it's unlikely that they know the multi-million company Janes&Co. It's a stock market company. AND just to make my parents even richer than they already are, back when I was five, they won the lottery. I know. Of all things. 135 million Euros. Abruptly, Sirius yelled down the Gryffindor table.

"Oi, Janes! Where are you going for the break?"

"Home," I said, a bit too darkly. He noticed.

"I feel the same way,". He got up and began walking over to where I was sitting alone. He sat down. Although I had gotten over my stupid infatuation with Sirius, I couldn't deny the fact that he was still quite good looking.

"What do you mean?" I said quietly.

"Well... let's just say my family wasn't very happy when I was sorted into Gryffindor.." he said, trailing off. I, of course, wouldn't know what it felt like for my family to 1). be a present and active figure in my life, and 2). care about blood status, or what house I'm sorted into.

"Why?"

"My whole family line are Slytherins. We're pureblood. most of them are rich and snooty. Including my family, not me though; the snooty part I mean." he said with a tone that closed the conversation about blood status.

"But why should it matter what house you're sorted into? It just means you're unique,"

"That's what you'd think," he said. "My mother isn't exactly the nicest lady. She's more like an old hag, really." I laughed, but quickly stopped myself, assuming that it was probably a touchy subject.

"It's fine to laugh, I would too," he said, giving me a small grin. We sat in silence for a few minutes, eating our Shepard's pie. "What about you?" he asked.

"They're drunk. All-day, every day."

"Oh..." he said, obviously not expecting that answer.

"It's fine, really. I have my brothers and they're good."

"So that's where you get your tom-boyish personality from," he said smiling.

"And is there a problem with that?" I said in mock offense. He laughed.

"Not at all Janes, not at all. Brothers make you tough, and obviously, it's true. I'm sitting next to living proof." he said, side glancing at me.

"Er, thanks, I guess," and with that, he got up and left to join his friends.

I left the Great Hall to find all of the girls's in my dorm frantically packing. They had much more stuff than I did, which also meant that they had more to pack back into their trunks. For the most part, our room was a complete mess, with the exception of mine and Lily's areas. Her wall had her time table on it along with revision charts. Mine was completely blank, with the exception of a poster of a muggle football (soccer to Canada and the USA) team, Liverpool. Everything had been packed within 5 minutes and I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I picked up by toothbrush but slowly began to cry. I sank to the floor and sat there, my chest heaving with sobs. I wanted to scream in anger. I could feel every vein in me pulsing with the adrenaline of frustration. I heard a quiet knock on the door, and got up off the floor, not bothering to wipe away the tears.

"Riley, can I come in..?" a soft voice said. I opened the door to find Lily, who had a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked in the same quiet voice.

"No."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Oh.." she said, a little crestfallen.

"I'm sorry, it's not you, I just have to work out this problem on my own," I replied, being honest. You see, that was my fatal flaw; being too strong. Doesn't that sound like the most conceded thing you've ever heard? Yes, I agree, but the thing is, it's not. It's quite the opposite really. Since I had to learn to grow up faster than most kids, along with that came the responsibility of having to rely on myself to get things done, to handle things on my own, including personal struggles, both emotionally, physically and mentally. I never had a shoulder to cry on other than my own. I was my own vice, my own stronghold I went to when I felt like shit, and when my world was crumbling to pieces. I always felt like I had to be strong for others around me too, and if they found out my problems, it would become theirs too. I, of course, knew the feeling of having to deal with everyone else's problems, including my own, so I never opened up.

"Okay... I guess we can chat tomorrow morning," she said with a small, weak smile on her face.

"Yes, yeah, okay," I said quietly. I knew we weren't going to chat but simply humored her.

"Goodnight Riley."

"Night, Lils"

* * *

I woke up the next morning, my eyes feeling puffy and heavy. I laid there, not wanting to move, knowing that would mean being one step closer to 'home', when really, Hogwarts was my home. I walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I began to laugh. My normally soft, tanned features were red and blotchy. My eyes were bloodshot, red, dry and my eyelids were heavy and close to being closed.

"Lilyyy," I said and walked out into the dorm. She groggily woke up, rolling over to face me.

"Yes Riley?" she said a bit exasperated.

"Can you like, fix this?" I said motioning to my face. She laughed.

"Sure," and she mumbled an incantation. Suddenly, my face felt normal. I turned around and trotted back to the bathroom and gasped a little. Although my face felt back to normal, it looked better than normal. If certain people thought I looked pretty for my age before, they would get quite a shock if they saw me now. The spell she seemed to use accentuated my features way more. Prettier, brighter sea-green eyes that seemed to swim before me, and long, thick, dark eyelashes. My nose, which was already pretty normal, seemed to straighten and have a cute (which is weird for a nose) look to it. My lips were softer and a little fuller and my teeth (which were already straight) were whiter. Lily seemed to have heard my shriek and came into the bathroom.

"What is it, did I do something wro-" she said, cutting herself off after looking at me in the mirror. "oh.." she said, "OH,".

"Oh is an understatement Lily," I said, equally as astonished as her.

"I mean.. maybe I did the spell a little _too _well,"

"Oh damn, that's not tooting your own horn _at all_," I said still looking at myself but laughing.

"I'll be trying that one on myself sometime soon I suspect," she said and giggled.

"And does this ever wear off?" I asked.

"Well, as far as I know, it stops working when the persons soul departs from its host's body... or in other words when they die."

"Oh, wicked, I'm so excited to have this wear off when I'm frail and old at my funeral when just about _everyone_ that knows me will be present," I said sarcastically. With this remark, we both laughed and began to get dressed and drag our trunks down to the Entrance Hall.

Walking down to the Entrance Hall, which was filled with excited chatter, ebbed away around me as I walked through the crowd. People who were near enough to see my face were gawking and staring; some were stared of jealousy, and some stares of lust. I felt weird, to say the least. I bowed my head so people wouldn't be able to see my face. I really did hate attention.

As I walked to the train with the mass of other Hogwarts students, I felt the pit in my stomach seem to grow larger with every step I took towards the thing that would take me right to the place where I didn't want to go; Janes Manor.

**_=End of Chapter=_**

**Hi guys! So sorry that this took so long to get up. I've been a little discouraged to write anything since no one has been reviewing with the exception of one friend of mine and another fellow writer HerDisorientedThoughts (shout out to you, thank you so much for the review!) So as some of you saw, I posted an update about the story and I've come to a conclusion that I'm going to simply skim over years 1-3 with the exception of like little events throughout their year. I feel like this will be 1). faster. 2). more interesting and fast-paced. 3). be more enjoyable for readers instead of long, boring and drawn out. 4). faster for me to get chapters up for you guys, and also more fun for me to write, and 5). will make the process of getting to more of the drama and romance, including Sirius's romance with another character and his personal struggles, more Jily, both including fluff and possibly other stuff (which is why I'll be changing the rating from K+ to T soon) and also just overall more interesting stuff for you guys to read. I also think that I'm gonna start writing another short story about Lily and James in their 7th year as Heads (as a separate story). **

**This week coming up I'll be gone since I'm counseling at a camp for a week so I won't get to writing anything next week but hopefully I'll make up for it with the Jily story. Thanks to the people who actually faithfully read my story!**

**= fand0m-phaser =**


	9. Wishing Only Makes It Worse

Riley had got off the Hogwarts Express at 4 pm and lugged her trunk onto the platform. She looked around for her parents, although she didn't really expect to see them there. She looked around for a few minutes, then found a tall man wearing a black suit standing amongst the swarm of people holding a sign displaying 'Riley Janes' in big, black bold letters. She sighed and reluctantly went over to him, and let him drive her home in a completely decked out limousine, all the way to Janes Manor.

* * *

They pulled into the long, slightly winding driveway to her house. She caught a glimpse of the large building and then saw the multiple white pillars. Everything at this point was quite white, including the normally well-groomed green grass, of course, all due to a large amount of snowfall that had came down. The car came to a stop and her door opened, the chauffeur holding it for her. She thanked him and stepped out, with the man closing the car door and carrying her trunk behind him. Stepping onto her doorstep, facing the large double doors, she looked at them and her hand hovered over the handle. She hesitated.

"Is there something wrong Miss?" asked the chauffeur.

"No, uh, no, I'm fine, thank you." and with that I pushed open the door, and found my three brothers all standing there, clearly waiting for me to come home.

"WELCOME HOME RILEY!" they all said in unison. I smiled and ran into Dylan's arms. He picked me up and spun me around in circles and I laughed.

"Wow! You've changed...like a lot.." Ryan said examining my face. "You look, like, older,".

"Well, I mean, yeah, that occasionally does happen from time to time as the human pieces progress in their years on planet Earth," I said and they laughed. "I could say the same to you though.".

"Ah, that's the Riley I know," said Josh, flashing his trademark toothy smile. I smiled back.

"Okay, lovely welcoming and all, but I do need to go and unpack and change. I'd like to get into a pair of clothes that I am able to do nothing in except for breathe, eat and sleep in." I said and they all nodded in agreement. "Meet ya back down here in 30?" I said and they threw me a thumbs up and all went off to the separate wings of the manor. I went north, towards the back of the house, gazing around at all the paintings hung on the walls. I tilted my head up to see the ceiling, which was made of glass, giving me a view of the hazy grey sky. To be honest, it was quite gloomy and I was in no mood to do anything at all except sleep. I kept walking forward, and saw my door, with a plaque on it reading '**Riley Andrea**' in bold cursive. I turned the doorknob and walked into the large, wide room, with vaulted ceilings. It still smelt like my champagne toast perfume that I love so much. At this, I smiled a little and broke into a sprint, and launched myself onto my queen-sized bed. It was exactly like my bed at Hogwarts, except bigger. I slowly started to realize why Gryffindor was so appealing to me. After all, my favorite color was Gryffindor red, which seemed to be reflected all over my room. My sheets were silk white with a red duvet over top of them. The canopy was a deep red too. My room seemed to be 2xs bigger than when I had left it in September. It truly was huge. There was a fireplace that was already lit (probably by the maids) that was emitting a lovely warmth, a large shag carpet, an armchair, and small curved couch, a desk, high and large bookshelves, a walk-in closet, and the list goes on and on. The theme colour seemed to be the deep red of Gryffindor, which made me feel a little more comforted. I walked around my room aimlessly, not really knowing what to do. I went back to my bed and flopped down, feeling too tired to do much and then eventually fell asleep.

* * *

"RILEYYYYYYY, WAKE UP!" a voice yelled from across the room but was slowly getting closer and closer. A large thud came from next to me and I bolted upright on my bed.

"What the hell, what happened?" I said in a panicked voice.

"Watch your language missy," Dylan said, laying down on my bed laughing. I mumbled a sorry and they all laughed.

"We have a surprise for you later tonight, and I think you're going to like it," Ryan said mysteriously. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"You'll find out.." he said and we dropped the conversation. The four of us left my bedroom and we walked down to the kitchens, where the chefs were making supper. I checked the clock and it read 6:30, meaning we would be having supper in 15 minutes. The smell of roast beef and mashed potatoes wafted through the house. I inhaled deeply and sighed. I had a quick conversation with the boys, who still refused to tell me what the surprise was, only except that I had to go back upstairs and change into a fancy dress. I had way too many of those. Ugh. Dresses. I'd rather wear jeans and a t-shirt any day of the week. I ran up the stairs and went to the east wing where my bedroom was. I opened the door and saw my closet lights on. I walked in cautiously and saw a beautiful, blue, silk evening gown. The material was like rippling water under my fingers. I remembered that my parents constantly forgot to take the price tag off of any dress or piece of clothing they gave me, so I went on a scavenger hunt for the tag, per usual. Finally, after a minute or so of looking through all the fabric, I found the golden tag, and it read 399$. _'_

You've_ got to be kidding me,' _I thought to myself. I took off my jeans and hoodie and slipped into the dress. I looked around for anything else that the maids might have set out for me, and saw a pair of white shoes with diamonds in them. I rolled my eyes._ 'gods, they really have to go all out for everything, don't they. They're not even going to be here for dinner,'_ I thought selfishly. _'Stop Riley, wishing for them to be here will only make it worse. Why do you care if they're always wasted anyway?'_

I got dressed and went down the stairs, not bothering to put on the shoes till I got down the stairs, hiking up my dress to my knees. Gods, oh how I hated dresses. By the time I made my way to the dining room it was already 6:40. Turning the corner into the large room, I saw a girl standing beside my brother by our china case in the dining room. She turned around to face me and my breath caught in my throat.

"I know you," I breathed. "You go to Hogwarts."

"Yes, I do. Hello, Riley." she said sweetly.

"You two know each other?" Dylan asked quizzically.

"Yes, we go to school together," the girl prompted. Her dress was emerald green, her long dark curls resting on her back. Those piercing hazel eyes drilled a hole right through me.

Emma Vanity, Quidditch Captain of the Slytherin.

* * *

AHHH GUYSSS. I am so sososososososo sorry I haven't posted in, like, forever. School started two weeks ago and I haven't gotten a chance to write. But tadaaa! Your 9th chapter is here. I hope it's up to par, but give me your feedback! I wanna hear what you think is gonna happen! I left this as a bit of a cliffhanger sooooo... yeah. See ya later!

~ fandom_phaser


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